McGill, after a year playing next to Skuster, is getting to know her tendencies.

“Really, I can feel her mood, I can feel her phrasing,” McGill said. “It’s not like I can’t feel the others; she’s just right next to me. She hasn’t been here long, but the more and more we play, the more I start to understand her musical mannerisms and gestures. I do my best to fit into that and I’m sure she feels the same.”

She does, and apparently so do the other principals.

“It’s like we all just agree to play great,” Jaber said. “It’s a choice that everybody seems to want to make here, to play well and to play to a certain standard — not to emulate a certain orchestra or a certain player, but just to play at their very best.”

And that’s a really cool thing.

James Chute is the Union- Tribune’s music and art critic: (619) 293-1290; jim.chute@ uniontrib.com